Spanish Urban Development: Growth, Diffused Cities, and Metropolitan Areas
Spanish Urban Development and Metropolitan Growth
Post-Civil War Urban Expansion and the Diffused City
From the mid-1950s, and especially in the 1960s, the main Spanish cities began a tremendous growth. This expansion was driven by population increase and rural-to-urban migration. These new urban areas sometimes merged with neighboring municipalities. While large cities currently have a lower rate of development, expansion continues. This gives rise to the "diffused city," characterized by the formation of peri-urban areas or urban production units that blend land uses and lifestyles of both the countryside and the city.
Components of the Diffused City
The diffused city is divided into different areas:
Residential Zones on the Periphery
These zones feature various housing types:
- Substandard Housing or Slums (Shantytowns): These arise on illegally occupied land without proper planning. Houses are self-constructed using waste materials. They reached their peak during massive rural exodus. Faced with this problem, improvement and renewal operations were carried out in these neighborhoods. Currently, the problem is increasing again.
- Public Housing Neighborhoods: To alleviate housing shortages, sheltered housing was created, characterized by poor construction quality. Rehabilitation operations are currently underway on these buildings.
- Private Development Housing Estates: Initially featuring open-frame or tower blocks with spaces between houses, H-shaped blocks soon developed.
- Closed Block Neighborhoods: These aim to recover the human scale in height and the organization of collective streets, often utilizing internal patios.
- Single-Family Housing Areas: Favored by the middle class's desire for contact with nature and the use of the automobile. They feature open plots with individual, detached buildings.
Industrial and Equipment Zones on the Periphery
These zones are located near main transport access points to the city, seeking affordable land and proximity to urban areas.
- Industrial Areas: These include well-planned industrial estates, some of which have been renovated to accommodate new companies. They also include other industrial spaces.
- Equipment Areas: These result from the current decentralization of economic activities towards the urban periphery.
Metropolitan Areas in Spain
An urban agglomeration, or metropolitan area, is composed of a main city and several surrounding municipalities that have significant socioeconomic ties.
Characteristics of Metropolitan Areas
- They are presided over by a major city.
- Strong economic and social relations exist between the central city and the surrounding nuclei.
- A robust transport and communications network is essential.
- Socially, the municipalities within the area show an urban lifestyle, predominantly with a young population and social variety.
- Spatially, their structure follows two models: concentric circles around the central core, and radial patterns.